Thursday, October 15, 2015

S.C. Farmers and Agribusiness Suffer from Flooding

Chicken house and agriculture acres under flood waters

It’s beginning to look like the year 2015 will go down in
the history books as detrimental to farmers and agribusiness in South Carolina. During the S.C. Agriculture Commissioner Hugh Weathers' visit to Walterboro in February it was to promote growth and good news such as Crescent Dairy coming
to Colleton County. But what has followed since then is a One – Two Punch
consisting of a dry and hot summer growing season followed by unprecedented
flooding during the annual harvest time.

Ag Commissioner Hugh Weathers

As the
historic rains that fell into S.C. began turning into a longer-term flooding
scenario, suddenly farmers were thrust into the spotlight. Governor Nikki
Haley’s daily press conference included the number of dams that were
compromised and the subsequent road closures, with other regular reports coming
from General Livingston of the National Guard. But then on Wednesday it was
time for Ag Commissioner Hugh Weathers to speak and he announced an estimated
$300-million dollar crop loss, and the threat that agribusiness in general would
suffer further impacts.

Weathers
flew over the state on Monday and Tuesday preparing his assessment, reporting
thousands of acres of farmland under water. For video from a SCDNR flyover click here. When I spoke to Weathers on Friday Oct. 9 he told me that farmer’s
understand that they have inherent risks from the weather. But when they
encounter a year like this one most farmers are just hoping to make it through
until the next year, and the next planting season. He also said that harvest efforts will help
to determine disaster funding requests for individual farmers.